Heinsberg (electoral district)

88 Heinsberg
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Heinsberg in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	255,600 (2019)
Electorate	192,346 (2021)
Major settlements	Erkelenz Heinsberg Hückelhoven
Area	627.9 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Wilfried Oellers
Elected	2013, 2017, 2021

Heinsberg is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 88. It is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the Heinsberg district. ^[1]

Heinsberg was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2013, it has been represented by Wilfried Oellers of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). ^[2]

Geography

Heinsberg is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it is coterminous with the Heinsberg district. ^[1]

History

Heinsberg was created in 1949, then known as Geilenkirchen – Erkelenz – Jülich. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it was named Geilenkirchen – Heinsberg. It acquired its current name in the 1972 election. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 3 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 62. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 55. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 90. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 89. From the 2025 election, it has been number 88.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Geilenkirchen-Heinsberg, Erkelenz, and Jülich. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it comprised the districts of Geilenkirchen and Heinsberg. In the 1972 election, it was coterminous with Heinsberg district. In the 1976 election, it also contained the municipality of Niederkrüchten from the Viersen district. It acquired its current borders in the 1980 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	3	Geilenkirchen – Erkelenz – Jülich	Geilenkirchen-Heinsberg district Erkelenz district Jülich district
1953	62
1957
1961
1965	55	Geilenkirchen – Heinsberg
1969
1972		Heinsberg	Heinsberg district
1976			Heinsberg district Viersen district (only Niederkrüchten municipality)
1980			Heinsberg district
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	90
2005
2009
2013	89
2017
2021
2025	88

Members

The constituency has been held continuously by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since its creation. It was first represented by Karl Müller from 1949 to 1957, followed by Karl Arnold for a single term. Fritz Burgbacher was elected in 1961 and served until 1972. Adolf Freiherr Spies von Büllesheim served until 1987, followed by Karl H. Fell until 1998. Leo Dautzenberg was elected in the 1998 election and served until 2013. Wilfried Oellers was elected in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Karl Müller	CDU	64.2
	1953			71.0
	1957	Karl Arnold	CDU	72.6
	1961	Fritz Burgbacher	CDU	64.4
	1965			63.1
	1969			60.9
	1972	Adolf Freiherr Spies von Büllesheim	CDU	59.9
	1976			61.4
	1980			58.4
	1983			62.8
	1987	Karl H. Fell	CDU	57.6
	1990			55.8
	1994			53.4
	1998	Leo Dautzenberg	CDU	49.2
	2002			50.3
	2005			51.4
	2009			50.4
	2013	Wilfried Oellers	CDU	53.4
	2017			45.6
	2021			39.7

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Heinsberg [3]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Wilfried Oellers		57,095	39.7	5.9	46,466	32.3	7.2
	SPD	Norbert Spinrath		37,249	25.9	2.0	38,822	27.0	1.1
	Greens	Dignanllely Meurer		15,368	10.7	5.7	16,858	11.7	6.5
	AfD	Hermann Navel		10,965	7.6	0.7	11,359	7.9	0.9
	FDP	Alexander Dorner		10,691	7.4	0.8	16,023	11.1	0.3
	PARTEI	Mark Benecke		4,901	3.4		1,929	1.3	0.8
	Left	Rüdiger Birmann		3,608	2.5	2.1	4,529	3.1	2.5
	Tierschutzpartei						2,334	1.6	0.8
	FW	Hans-Peter Weiland		2,288	1.6	0.5	1,375	1.0	0.4
	dieBasis	Michael Aggelidis		1,554	1.1		1,602	1.1
	Pirates						532	0.4	0.1
	Team Todenhöfer						438	0.3
	Volt						382	0.3
	LIEBE						235	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						210	0.1	0.1
	NPD						209	0.1	0.2
	LfK						155	0.1
	V-Partei3						109	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						87	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						75	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis C						53	0.0
	PdF						47	0.0
	LKR						30	0.0
	MLPD						18	0.0	0.0
	PSG						14	0.0	0.0
	DKP						10	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,649			1,397
Total valid votes				143,719			143,971
Turnout				145,368	75.6	0.7
	CDU hold		Majority	19,846	13.8	3.9

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Heinsberg [4]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Wilfried Oellers		64,121	45.6	7.8	55,605	39.5	9.9
	SPD	Norbert Spinrath		39,301	28.0	0.3	36,421	25.9	0.5
	AfD	Hermann Navel		11,652	8.3	6.0	12,313	8.7	5.2
	FDP	Klaus Jürgen Wagner		9,334	6.6	4.4	16,111	11.4	6.5
	Greens	Christoph Stolzenberger		6,964	5.0	0.7	7,281	5.2	0.4
	Left	Wolfram Steinhage		6,424	4.6	0.2	7,909	5.6	0.4
	Tierschutzpartei						1,179	0.8
	PARTEI						805	0.6	0.2
	FW	Sascha Mattern		1,536	1.1		747	0.5	0.2
	Pirates	Kai Torsten Boxberg		1,272	0.9	1.6	669	0.5	1.8
	NPD						457	0.3	0.8
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						368	0.3
	V-Partei³						150	0.1
	DiB						149	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						137	0.1	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						134	0.1
	ÖDP						123	0.1	0.0
	DM						119	0.1
	BGE						100	0.1
	Die Humanisten						61	0.0
	MLPD						46	0.0	0.0
	DKP						8	0.0
	SGP						8	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,726			1,440
Total valid votes				140,604			140,890
Turnout				142,330	74.9	3.4
	CDU hold		Majority	24,820	17.6	7.5

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Heinsberg [5]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Wilfried Oellers		70,649	53.4	3.0	65,417	49.3	7.8
	SPD	Norbert Spinrath		37,444	28.3	4.2	34,895	26.3	4.8
	Greens	Hans Josef Dederichs		7,511	5.7	1.2	7,336	5.5	1.6
	Left	Ayten Kaplan		5,720	4.3	3.3	6,915	5.2	3.0
	Pirates	Katharina Lenzen		3,310	2.5		3,019	2.3	0.8
	AfD	Hermann Navel		3,043	2.3		4,652	3.5
	FDP	Linus Kester Stieldorf		2,921	2.2	7.3	6,543	4.9	11.5
	NPD	Heiko Glowka		1,718	1.3	0.2	1,427	1.1	0.1
	PARTEI						556	0.4
	FW						437	0.3
	REP						254	0.2	0.1
	PRO						251	0.2
	Volksabstimmung						231	0.2	0.1
	Nichtwahler						195	0.1
	ÖDP						145	0.1	0.0
	Party of Reason						112	0.1
	RRP						77	0.1	0.1
	BIG						60	0.0
	PSG						44	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						29	0.0	0.0
	Die Rechte						26	0.0
	MLPD						18	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,205			1,882
Total valid votes				132,316			132,639
Turnout				134,521	71.5	1.2
	CDU hold		Majority	33,205	25.1	1.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Heinsberg [6]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Leo Dautzenberg		65,143	50.4	1.1	53,888	41.5	1.7
	SPD	Norbert Spinrath		31,111	24.1	13.2	27,877	21.5	11.1
	FDP	Andreas Rademachers		12,342	9.5	4.3	21,315	16.4	5.7
	Left	Christa Frohn		9,859	7.6	3.0	10,638	8.2	3.1
	Greens	Gisela Johlke		8,933	6.9		9,307	7.2	2.0
	Pirates						1,976	1.5
	NPD	Helmut Gudat		1,964	1.5	0.1	1,532	1.2	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,047	0.8	0.3
	FAMILIE						784	0.6	0.1
	RENTNER						420	0.3
	REP						413	0.3	0.2
	RRP						199	0.2
	Volksabstimmung						145	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						94	0.1
	DVU						73	0.1
	Centre						69	0.1	0.0
	BüSo						24	0.0	0.0
	PSG						20	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						17	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,409			1,923
Total valid votes				129,352			129,838
Turnout				131,761	70.2	7.1
	CDU hold		Majority	34,032	26.3	12.2

References

1. "Constituency Heinsberg". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Heinsberg". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Heinsberg
4. Results for Heinsberg
5. Results for Heinsberg
6. Results for Heinsberg